Police in northern Poland are holding four men in custody for brutally attacking a Moroccan actor during a festival which was meant to make young Poles more aware of the dangers of racism. Eyewitness reports suggest that the attack on the Moroccan was an act of racism.

This report is by Bogdan Zaryn.

Police reports state that Moroccan actor identified by the police as Abdel M. was brutally stabbed several times and lost consciousness while being rushed to a hospital in northern Poland. He is a member of the Migrator troupe of refugee actors who took part in an international theatre festival, where they performed a play about how it feels to be a refugee in Poland. After the play the Moroccan actor was approached by several men and hit over the head with a bottle and stabbed repeatedly. Simon Mol, the Cameroonian head of the theatre troupe said that this incident had all the makings of a racial attack.

‘There were a lot of people and then one of the actors called me that a guy is lying in a pool of blood. I had to rush there , he was lying there and the ambulance was there. He was unconscious and they were trying to revive him. I spoke to him when he regained conscious and he told me that they said a specific remark was made before he was attacked so he asked him why , because you are dark, you are black. And before his was attacked he told me that his attackers said there were too many foreigners”

This asylum seeker, who did not wish to be identified by name, has been waiting for his refugee status. He thinks that Poland is seeing an increase of violent, bitter attacks on foreigners.

“I have been year for two years. The situation is getting more and more increased because personally I have been attacked on several occasions. I have met some of my friends some of them who are black and they have been complaining that they have been attacked by racists”

Police in the Northern city of Olsztyn say that the four men involved in the attack were previously known to law enforcement authorities Olsztyn police commissioner Jolanta Szymulewska Ozioro disagrees with claims of racial violence.

“The four men in custody didn’t belong to any specific organization like skins or any nationalist groups. They have criminal records and are known to police. According to our investigation it doesn’t seem at the moment that it was a racial attack.’

Since EU accession, Poland has seen an increase in the number of asylum seekers. Maria Pamula from the United Nations high commission for Refugees argues that Poles do welcome asylum seekers and refugees.

“We’ve done an inquiry among Poles right after Refugee day and as far as we know 72% of our society is willing to accept refuges from another country and think that Poland should accept refugees. So I think that the general attitude is rather positive towards refuges or asylum seekers”

So far police are qualifying the attack on Abdel M as a brutal act of violence brought on by too much alcohol. But observers say that the incident has once again focused public attention on the status of refugees in Poland and society’s attitude to them.